Nuwara Eliya tea country guide. What to do, how cold is it and how long to stay?

I am hill country based and Nuwara Eliya is part of my regular circuit. Here is the complete honest account.

What Nuwara Eliya is: a town at 1,868 metres that was the British colonial hill station. The colonial character is genuine and specific, not manufactured, with Tudor-style buildings, an Anglican church, a racecourse, a golf course, and an actual Hill Club with leather armchairs that has barely changed since independence. It is called Little England and the comparison is apt, including the weather.

How cold: significantly colder than anywhere else in Sri Lanka. Daytime temperatures of 16-20 degrees from December to February, sometimes dropping below 10 degrees at night. March to May is warmer. Even in April, evenings at altitude require a warm layer. Bring a proper fleece and a waterproof. This surprises many visitors who pack only tropical clothing for Sri Lanka.

What to do:
Pedro Tea Estate (4km from town): a functioning tea factory that gives tours explaining the full production process from leaf to packet. The guide walkthrough shows withering, rolling, fermentation, drying, and grading. Genuinely informative and not staged for tourists. Tours run when production is active, roughly Monday to Saturday mornings.
Hakgala Botanical Gardens: 10km from town, at altitude, with a remarkable rose garden, cloud forest section, and mountain views. The gardens are quieter and less crowded than Peradeniya near Kandy. Entry LKR 1,500 for foreign visitors.
Victoria Park in the town centre: pleasant walking and birding. The Sri Lanka white-eye, Kashmir flycatcher, and pied thrush are reliable sightings for birders.
Gregory Lake: the reservoir in the town centre, pleasant for an evening walk with local families.

The colonial buildings: the Grand Hotel, the Hill Club, and the Post Office are all worth seeing simply to understand the colonial hill station era. The Hill Club serves afternoon tea and allows non-members into the ground floor.

How long: one full day is sufficient for most visitors. An overnight stay allows you to experience the evening cold and the morning mist before things warm up, which is the atmospheric heart of the place. Two nights is comfortable. More than two is for those who specifically want the slow pace or are using it as a base for Horton Plains.

Arriving from Kandy or Ella: the train from Kandy to Nanu Oya station (the closest station, 9km from town) is the most atmospheric arrival. From Ella, the train also stops at Nanu Oya. From Nanu Oya, a tuk-tuk to Nuwara Eliya town costs LKR 400-600.